Electric vehicles are the decade's trend, and every vehicle maker is trying to get onto the bandwagon. While the new-age brands are the early adopters of the technology, the traditional OEMs take their time to perfect it, and one such OEM is BMW.
While the company launched its first EV, the i3, in 2013, which was too early for the technology to be adopted on a mass scale, the German brand re-tried its intent with the iX in 2017. Since then, the company has launched a number of pure electric vehicles and has had a good market in the EV space, with the most recent being the i7, the electric version of BMW’s flagship sedan.
The company is trying to bet on one of its most popular products, the 5 Series, in the form of i5. In 2020, the company announced its plans to launch nine EVs by 2025.
Production of the new, eighth-generation BMW 5 Series Sedan will begin in the summer 2023 at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing in Bavaria. The car’s market launch will be in October 2023.
In a recent reveal, the carmaker noted that the series production development process for the first-ever i5 is entering the home straight with the fine-tuning of its suspension control and driver assistance systems. It added that the car’s automated driving capability has also been taken into a new dimension with the Highway Assistant, which controls the distance to the vehicle ahead, steering adjustments, and lane changes for the first time by means of eye activation.
BMW says that the i5 has been under testing for over a year in the snow-covered and icy surfaces of the winter test centre at Arjeplog, Sweden, to regions offering extreme heat and dry conditions, in city driving and on country roads, on motorways and hand-picked test tracks.
The fine-tuning work for all the components involved in the driving experience was then carried out at the group’s proving grounds outside Miramas in southern France. This included ensuring the integral heating and cooling circuit with heat pump function for the drive system, the high-voltage battery and the interior of the i5 can be controlled as required at all times. The predictive heat management capability of the high-voltage battery paves the way for rapid and efficient charging at DC fast-charging stations.
Handling As It Always Did
The company revealed that to get the desired vehicle handling in the i5, which people have always expected in any 5 series, BMW has fitted the top-of-the-range i5 M60 xDrive with Adaptive Suspension Professional, including electronically controlled dampers as standard. The suspension system can also be specified as an option for the i5 eDrive40.
With its Vertical Dynamics Management, the system offers a noticeable increase in sports performance combined with a level of ride comfort that represents a clear step forward from that of its predecessor.
The latest version of Vertical Dynamics Management, now in its ninth generation, is debuting in the new BMW 5 Series Sedan. This technology is based on a newly developed, extensively networked control logic and factors in all the available input variables – such as wheel speeds, steering angle, yaw rate and acceleration – to establish the ideal damping forces.
The system no longer calculates the required damping forces using mathematical models; instead, it favours the physical calculation of data on the current driving condition. This ensures clearly defined body control and precise suspension response in every driving situation.
Adaptive Suspension Professional is offered for all variants of the new BMW 5 Series Sedan (either as standard or optionally, depending on the model). The new generation of the business sedan blends ride comfort approaching BMW 7 Series levels with the sporting agility familiar from the BMW 3 Series, the company said.
Technology Prowess
The new BMW 5 Series Sedan is also trying to raise the bar in its segment with its extensive array of automated driving and parking systems. High-resolution cameras, high-precision radar sensors and control units from the BMW Group’s latest technology toolkit, plus a software application refined over countless miles of testing, provide the ingredients for an automated driving experience featuring innovative highlights that enhance safety and comfort.
In the USA and Canada, and now also in Germany, the Driving Assistant Professional will be available as an option for the new BMW 5 Series Sedan comprises Highway Assistant, which can be used at speeds of up to 130 km/h (85 mph).
Once activated, the system takes care of distance control and the steering inputs required for lane control, so the driver can keep their hands comfortable and focus fully on surveying the area around the vehicle and the traffic situation at hand.
An interior camera helps monitor the driver’s level of alertness. Also, it enables another innovation: in a world first, the automated lane change – included as part of the Driving Assistant Professional and Highway Assistant – in the new BMW 5 Series Sedan can be controlled using eye activation.
This convenience feature results in a new level of interaction between human and car. Looking in the exterior mirror prompts the car to initiate the lane change process and carry out the necessary steering movements and speed adjustments at speeds of up to 130 km/h (85 mph) once the driver has confirmed they want it to do so and the traffic situation allows. The purely visual gesture complements the previous use of the turn signal lever, which is also available as an alternative.
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